Secret History

Cuba's exceptional underwater city and a new theory on the prehistoric ramifications of its origins

Brad Yoon
Ancient Origins
Fri, 26 Feb 2016 14:51 UTC

Artist’s representation of underwater ruins

In his Underworld: The Mysterious Origins of Civilization, Graham Hancock examines the numerous structures that have been discovered underwater around the world. Most of the sites that Hancock discusses lie less than 120 meters (395 feet) below sea level, which comes as no surprise since the sea level never fell below this mark during the time Homo sapiens walked the earth. Submerged over 700 meters (2300 feet) underwater, the Cuban city discovered by Paulina Zelitsky and Paul Weinzweig during a joint Cuban-Canadian expedition is the singular exception.

Overturning Old Theories

How can the existence of this underwater city at this great depth be reconciled with the well-established consensus that the sea level never dropped so low? In Hancock's own words: "What one would not expect to find in water anywhere near as deep as 700 meters would be a sunken city - unless it had been submerged by some colossal tectonic event rather than by rising sea levels."

Reconstructed Image from the sonar scan of the sea floor off the coast of Cuba.

However, the hypothesis that the city was originally built at a higher altitude and subsequently sunk to its present depth through tectonic activity has not stood up to the scrutiny of the experts. Grenville Draper of Florida International University considers it highly unlikely that such an event could have occurred: "Nothing of this magnitude has been reported, even from the Mediterranean..."

Supposing Draper's remarks rejecting the likelihood of the city having submerged are reliable, we are compelled to accept that the city was built at more or less the same depth that the city is located now. In other words, we are faced with the patently absurd conclusion that the structures were built underwater! Though proponents of the aquatic ape theory may beg to differ, it is clear that we have reached an impasse. Could there be an alternative theory that satisfactorily accounts for these structures at such depths?

Read the rest here

Reader Comments

Saiko · 2016-03-03T15:07:41Z

There was not

"Caribbean Sea has a similar geological history as the Mediterranean Sea? That is, could the Caribbean Sea have been a dry basin, and could it have been so during the existence of anatomically modern man?"

This line suggests that Mediterranean was dry during existence of modern man. But as far as I know, the Mediterranean Sea was dry over 5 millions years ago, when there wasn't any anatomically modern man. It was more ape-man than human, even before Australopithecus. I doubt Pliny had access to such an old oral tradition.

khumbula · 2016-03-03T20:27:19Z

Sinking sea bed

Just as the land can rise when relieved of the weight of kilometer thick ice packs (I think this is referred to as post-glacial rebound) is it not possible that a new sea bed can be compressed down further by the sudden extraordinary weight of sea water above it? Thus even if the average rise in sea level is say 120 meters it could appear to be much more if the sea bed is forced further down by said extra weight. The earth beneath or feet is perhaps best thought of as plastic rather than immovably solid. Just a thought. See The Earth's Shifting Axis by Mac B. Strain.

katesisco · 2016-03-03T22:07:12Z

Option....

Science says that the Isthmus of Panama was actually rafted into place and not originally part of SA, then one might conjecture that the entire Northern Hemisphere of Earth was delayed in its rotation for a small period of time in which the S Hemisphere continued to rotate bringing the Isthmus into place, stressing the continental sea floor and heating the rock layers underneath. I suggest these layers were oil and gas rich, and the heat applied caused a gas blowout which was responsible for the death of large animal life in NA. This original massive blow out may have shoved Cuba north and split the Yucatan. It was far more devastating than any asteroid. Aromatic hydrocarbons released would have been in the billions of tons. The release would have hollowed out the gases and oil chambers and caused the sinking of hundreds of feet of previous above sea level land. Subsequent releases would have continued to cause subsidence even as the seas rose. Science tells us that the Amazon originally flowed inland and this would easily explain why it now flows seaward.

bentpenny · 2016-03-04T16:51:31Z

"colossal tectonic event"

hits the nail on the head. Off the coast of Chile, there's a sunken city that is now a mile below the surface. On the other hand, Lake Titicaca was once a Pacific bay and Tiahuanacu was a seaport. They are now elevated over two miles above the ocean.

lilvoce · 2016-03-04T23:00:30Z

Why Oh Why...

Why can't there be any real images of what someone found down there?

Only reconstructed images and artist-rendered images and representational images?

The site is a little shy of 1/2 mile down.

If the structures had fallen that far, even over time, I'd think there would be a lot less left of the buildings than what is shown here.

It is interesting; although, I'll wait for more convincing "proof" of anything at all.

Amerikagulag · 2016-03-05T05:12:08Z

Yes isn't it ironic? This discovery was made around 1995. The TITANIC is 12,000 feet down. They found it, they've sent robots down there and filmed it. But a sunken city of unknown origin and age - a half mile down??? Naah.....that wouldn't bode well for the bible crowd at all. That would destroy our 'linear advancement' theory. If it were to be known that advanced human civilization is much, MUCH older than we are being led to believe, religions would likely collapse! Humanity might even.... wake up! Nope! We can't have that.

just thinking · 2016-03-05T00:34:13Z

There’s much mystery and confusion, garbled tales and misinformation about the Lost Continent of Lemuria, but even more concerning the man who spent a lifetime trying to put it in its rightful place on the map, Colonel James M. Churchward, author of the Mu books.

In 1920, the British-horn Churchward came out with his first in a series of five hooks, The Lost Continent of Mu, prefaced by an admonition to "all scientists" to please copy for future reference. important points of pre-history and anthropology he had compiled through more than 50 years of research and exploration throughout Asia and the South Sea:
"There was once a flourishing continent in the middle of the Pacific Ocean called Mu ... The greatest tragedy of mankind occurred when Mu sank, carrying down with her 63.000,000 people and a civilization approximately 200,000 years old.
[Link]

just thinking · 2016-03-05T01:58:07Z

David Hatcher Childress: Lost Cities of South America & the Pacific -
..... Keynote speaker at the 2008 event, maverick archaeologist and megalith hunter David Hatcher Childress took us on a whirlwind journey in search of ancient sites in South America and the Pacific. Discussing everything from Tiahuanaco in Bolivia to Easter Island to the basalt crystal city of Nan Madol, the real-life Indiana Jones took us to remote areas of the Andes and hard-to-reach Pacific Islands in search of megaliths and lost cities.....
[Link]

Amerikagulag · 2016-03-05T05:17:37Z

also

we should remember that the gulf of Mexico is suspected to be the site of a huge meteor impact too. A LOOONG time ago. How can lank sink? Perhaps by removing the land next to it?

She is wrong; Justin Trudeau knows that the Earth is warming because he studied drama at University. My Liberal friends can't be wrong, even if...

Pierre Viking

Did anyone ask those countries first if they want the US "protection"? :O

ReRan

That death toll number is likely a conservative one.

Gee

Who's listening? Besides we here, of course.

ReRan

As a former military helicopter pilot, the way the formation broke up was an invitation for a collision.

Spur

Secret History

Cuba's exceptional underwater city and a new theory on the prehistoric ramifications of its origins

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